Step into the richly layered world of Southwestern textile art at Kimosabe Gallery in Taos just off the Taos Plaza on Teresina Lane, where antique weavings by the Diné (Navajo) people take center stage — each piece a palpable archive of history, craft and culture.

A Curated Legacy

For over twenty years, Kimosabe Gallery has served as a portal to the American West’s material heritage. According to the listing on Taos.org, the gallery has “showcased treasures of the American West… vintage Navajo rugs, Native American blankets, old pawn jewelry, American Indian baskets and beadwork.” On its website, Kimosabe’s dedicated section for “Navajo Rugs & Blankets” underscores its attention to historic textiles—listing blankets from the late 19th and early 20th centuries.

Antique Navajo Weavings: Why They Matter

The antique Navajo textiles at Kimosabé represent a significant phase in Navajo weaving: from utilitarian blankets to collectible rugs and pictorial works. As noted in the broad history of Navajo weaving, these textiles were “prized by Indigenous peoples of the Great Plains and neighbouring tribes” before becoming export and trade items near the turn of the 20th century.

Key attributes that define Kimosabé’s fiber arts:

• Age & authenticity: Examples include second-phase and transitional blankets, circa 1890–1910, and pictorial rugs from the 1920s.

• Weaving technique & design: The weavings show the evolution of geometric motifs, the famed “Spider­Woman” cross, and pictorial elements such as human figures, crosses and tipi motifs.

• Cultural resonance: Navajo weaving is deeply rooted in cosmology and tradition—its origin myth credits “Spider Woman” with teaching the loom and pattern.

What the Visitor Sees and Feels

Walking into Kimosabe’s gallery space, you’ll encounter walls lined with finely spun Navajo wool in deep natural tones, shimmering subtly under gallery lighting. Up close, you’ll appreciate:

• The tight, even weave of older blankets and rugs, indicating the weaver’s mastery.

• The patina of age, subtle fading, delicate wear that testifies to decades of existence.

• The story-telling motifs, such as symbols of rain, mountains, or human figures, weaving together Navajo world-views.

• The varied formats, from saddle blankets and small pictorial panels to large Germantown rugs once traded widely.

Why Kimosabé belongs on your Taos To-Do List

This is not simply a display of decorative textiles: it’s a living archive of place, culture and craft, deeply attuned to Taos’s own identity as a crossroads of Indigenous, Spanish and Anglo traditions. The Kimosabe Gallery’s collection invites readers and visitors alike to reflect on material culture as an entry point into Navajo history and the broader Southwest narrative.

Tips for Visitors and Collectors

• When viewing a piece, inquire about its provenance and how the gallery dates and verifies its weaving phase (e.g., “Chief Blanket,” “Transitional,” “Germantown”).

• View the textiles not just as decorative objects, but as expressions of cultural continuity — their motifs, materials, and techniques link to Navajo lands, sheep herding traditions, and spiritual cosmologies.

• Take in how the weavings are curated in relation to their contemporary forms of Southwestern art.